Today, I went to help out at MINDSville@Napiri, at the Children’s Wing. MINDS stands for Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore. My aunt is the director of the children’s wing, so I asked if I could go there to help out. Today was my first time interacting with children with special needs.

We went on an excursion to Swire Marine Training Centre, originally a factory selling chicken feed. Today, it houses a ship. Well, kind of.  It’s a ship simulator. There are the various sections of the main control units in a ship, like the viewing room, control room, engine room and a deck where you can just get sea-sick watching the projections on the wall. The kids had a lot of fun controlling the “ship”. Thankfully, it can’t sink.

My job there was to be a photographer. Not that my photography skills are good or anything, but anyway.. I think it’s better I start out doing stuff like this because I don’t really have the social skills necessary to interact well with kids. For example, when some of them enthusiastically waved, held my hand and talked to me, I found it very hard to think of how to respond. I mean, I smiled and played with them a bit, but I wish I could do more for them.

One thing I learnt, apart from the usual “oh.. to start appreciating things around me”, was that what seems less significant to me may mean a whole lot more to someone else. In other words, I learnt to be more sensitive to the perspectives of others.

Let me explain. After half an hour of waiting for the children to put on their socks and shoes, we finally got onto the bus and were headed to the ship simulator. While on the bus, one girl suddenly exclaimed, “I am happy! I am happy!” When asked why she was was happy, she answered, “Because today I can outing!” This whole excursion thing didn’t seem like a big deal to me, but it was what the children had probably been looking forward to for a long time. Though it was a rather casual remark, it gave me something to think about for the rest of the bus ride.

In conclusion, today was an eye-opener.